National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Gitro said residents can expect periodic river fluctuations for the rest of this week and early next when the temperatures are expected to rise into the upper 30s again.

“When you have warming temperatures like that, the ice jam actually starts moving downstream and you have a significant chance of flash flooding,” Gitro said.

Shore Drive resident Betty Scalise said people looking to buy a riverfront home should do their house-hunting now.

“You can see for yourself who floods and who doesn’t,” she said.

Betty and Greg Scalise, Shore Drive residents since 2000, don’t have any water in their home, but they’re prepared to evacuate if necessary.

“We’ve been living out of a suitcase because you don’t know,” Greg Scalise said.

Greg, who can frequently be found staring out of his living room’s picture window, said
he is more worried about the huge chunks of ice north of his home than he is about
flash floodwaters.

“The ice could go right through our walls,” he said. “How do you sandbag for ice? You don’t.

“It’s going to be real interesting once the ice melts.”

Staff writer Chris Green can be reached at 815-987-1241 or cgreen@rrstar.com.